The Farmer and the Stork

A farmer, frustrated by cranes repeatedly destroying his newly planted seeds, set a net across the field and caught several birds at once, including a single stork who had simply been standing nearby among them.

As the farmer prepared to punish all the captured birds equally, the stork pleaded desperately for mercy. "Please, I am no crane at all — I have never once eaten your seeds, and my feathers, my call, my whole nature are entirely different from theirs. I was merely standing among them when your net fell, purely by unfortunate coincidence."

The farmer paused, considering this, then replied firmly: "That may well be true. But I found you in the company of thieves, doing nothing to separate yourself from them, and so you must share their punishment regardless of your own innocence." The stork, caught by the simple justice of this answer, understood too late that the company you're found keeping is often judged as harshly as your own actions.